December is here! But it´s still ninety degrees...

On Saturday we had church for the second time. It was definitely a much bigger group than last Sabbath! We had about seventeen kids, around ten adults, and five teenagers. It made for a very fun kids Sabbath school. For the activity we taught the kids how to make a simple origami boat to go along with the story of Jesus calming the sea in Mark 4:35. Church went well and then afterwards we went to our friend Gady’s house because she invited us to come over for her church’s 4th year anniversary at Ivan Sikic, which is the church in the area where we did our first big medical campaign at the beginning of October. That afternoon they held a concert with 2 other churches to celebrate, and during the concert they asked if us Americans would like to sing too. Well, we did pretty good to come up with six songs on the spot. Lol. Then Sunday we returned to help them with a benefit that they were planning for their church. They had soccer games, and each church brought a soccer team that put in 10 soles per team and they also sold lunch to help raise money. It was good to see our friends again, they are always a fun group.

Km 8

Life at km 8 is going pretty good. We’re getting used to the twice a day water rationing. Whenever we here the water running, we run to grab our soap and shampoo so we can have a shower and not just a bucket bath.lol. We’re never quite sure what time the water will be turned on that day. Clinic is still going well, we started visiting our neighbors and began public health classes this week. Our neighbors are so nice! We only managed to get around to three families because we were having a good time talking and getting to know them. The people here are so hospitable, they freely welcome you into their homes and we’ve had so many people drop off fruit for us at our house. I’m so excited to get to know the people who live here! During our big campaign we had a malnourished one-year-old come in to the clinic, and he might have died within a few days if they hadn’t brought him in. We saw him this Monday and he looks so much better! They put him on a baby formula and vitamins and some other stuff to help him to grow and so far he’s gained 2 kg. His name is Wilfredo, and he is quickly becoming my favorite patient. He smiled and cooed at us this last time he was in to visit. This Saturday night I will be starting a youth night at km 8, hopefully to get to know the teenagers who live around here. Please pray that it goes well! We’ll also be starting English classes for the adults/youth and for the kids in January. I’m so excited about the possibilities that km 8 has! In other exciting news, we figured out how to cook steamed broccoli! I’m not really the hugest fan of boiled or fried vegetables, so we got a little creative and took the plastic bags that we use for meds in the pharmacy and filled them with broccoli and a little water. Then, we placed the bags into a pot of boiling water and voila! We had steamed broccoli! Creation of the week. God bless you in the Christmas season!

Family

One thing that this year has impressed upon me forever is family. Yes, blood family, I always have had the best family and have always know that they love me and will always be there for me, but the family I am talking about right now is the one that God has created for me here in Peru and my church family back home, they are becoming a very important part of my life and support that I didn’t realize before. My family here in Peru consists of Caleb, who is always there to lift people up and to thank them for their work, Chris always offers a witty little comments that makes everyone laugh, and he also has good spiritual insights anytime he gives worship, Jonathan is another one of the funny men and always is betting everyone that they can or can’t eat something be it a turkey foot or a large bowl of sweet potato casserole, Anthony is the one who always smiles and teases the chicos right back when they give him a hard time. Rachel and Stephanie are the team nurses when anyone of us is having issues; recently they’ve been getting calls late at night to administer meds for upset bowels and stomachs. And they are also my companions here at Km 8, and we have a good time together. Cecilia is the newest addition to our group, but she’s very helpful in getting bargains when it comes to shopping in the market and she is also a very fun doctor to work with. Jenessa is the organizer of the group and all of her many responsibilities and Rebecca is the other teacher who always has available time to talk to anyone who needs to talk. Laura is always teasing everyone and giving us a hard time. Hanna is the person who knows everything about everyone in the group, I guess that is her job, but she is also keeps us all together and is very concerned that everyone in our group is happy. Alfonso is the quietest of the chicos, but he loves to laugh. Elias is the little brother to everyone, and he hates Monday mornings.  Erick is also quiet, but when he does talk it’s usually pretty funny and good for a laugh, he is also a very hard worker and a leader for the group. Daniel Pua is Elias’ older brother, and very good at building stuff, like the majority of stuff we have here at Km 8. Daniel Ruiz is well-known for his love of music during worship times, and blasting his computer in the mornings with praise music, in Spanish of course. Doctor is most definitely the leader of the group, like the dad of the group, and I respect him very much for all of the work he does here. If a man ever had a full plate, he does. He makes sure all of us are healthy and happy first of all, then he does a lot of administrative work for Amor, he sets up medical campaigns, makes new connections to help Amor, and he has three kids. Shirley, the doctor’s wife, is like the older sister/mom figure of our group here. She doesn’t mind laughing at us girls when we mess up cooking in the kitchen, or teaching us better more efficient ways to cook for so many people. Hermana Welfa is a grandmotherly figure, and a very stable spiritual example for all of us. Her sermons are very good and personal. She also is great at teaching us how to make empanadas.  This makes up our family here in Peru, and I know that I wouldn’t be doing as well as I am here in Peru without having these people as my brothers and sisters.
Another group that has really been there supporting me every step of the way is my church family. I just recently received a package from the Women’s Ministries department there that had a whole bunch of letters and verses for my birthday and to give me additional encouragement. I have received several letters from my church family, and it never ceases to amaze me that in each letter there is a verse or a personal note that lifts me up and that I needed just at the moment that I read them. It’s about halfway through my time here in Peru, and I’m missing home a lot and sometimes I just want to go home and leave, but the letters I recently got in the mail have lifted my spirits considerably and reminded me of the important work that God has here and that he IS always by my side even when I mess up. In the New Testament it is written that as brothers and sisters in Christ we should take care of one another, be a family, fellowship together. This has become a very real reality for me this year, thank you. This is why God doesn’t ask us to be hermits and not talk to anyone, we need each other.
My family has become very big this year.  I love getting the calls from my family every week. I know that it has been very hard for them to have me so far away. They have given me so much love and support this year that I’m serving God, even though they would be much more comfortable to have me home. It boosts me every week just to hear from them and to know what is going on in their lives at home.
Thanksgiving was yesterday, and this year my biggest thanks to God is for Peru and the huge family that this year has given me.

Thanksgiving Day in El Peru

The night before thanksgiving the Doc told me that Alfonso had turkeys at his house, so we asked him that night when we got to 38 about it and he said that he didn’t have turkeys and never had. Not sure where those wires got crossed, but it was kind of funny. Lol. At first, when we were going to get the turkey from Alfonso, I thought I was going to have to de-feather it and season and cook it. Good thing I didn’t have to de-feather it because number one, I don’t think we had a pot big enough to boil it in so the feathers would come off, and number two, I would have been guessing on how to do it. Lol. I was kind of excited to figure it out anyway. I called my mom the night before and asked her how to season the turkey and how long to cook it and all that cuz I was really worried about messing up the Thanksgiving Day Turkey. So, Rach and I ended up going to Pucallpa the next morning to buy one because you can’t buy one in Campo Verde. I assumed that it would be like every other meat you purchase here, freshly killed that morning, but surprisingly the lady who sells the turkeys sells them frozen. Who knew you could buy a frozen turkey in Peru? Lima, yea, but here? Anyway, I got worried because I didn’t think there would be any way to get it done before dinner that night. Anyway, so as not to bore you, I’ll cut this short and tell you that I seasoned it and took it to Campo to be cooked by a lady because our oven needs a little help in the consistency department and then I carved it and everybody thought it was the best thing ever! I was happy that it turned out. We also had sweet potatoe casserole, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, apple pie, and pumpkin pie, cranberry sauce, gravy gluten for the vegetarians, stuffing. We got a lot of the stuff in a box that Jenessa’s mom sent here, otherwise I don’t think it would have turned out as nicely. We worked really hard and it turned out amazing! After dinner we all went around the table and said one to three things we were thankful for, it felt like a real thanksgiving with a family!

21st Birthday!

Today was my 21st birthday.  I’ve been anxiously awaiting it all week because I got two packages from my family for my birthday that I had to wait to open. I love surprises, but I’m horrible at waiting for them! So, the first thing I did when I woke up was to open the packages that they sent me. My parents sent me a “party box” that had noisemakers, a party balloon tablecloth, napkins that said “Happy 21st”, and matching plates, and also cupcake mix with Hershey’s flavored frosting!!! That was the best frosting I have ever had. Lol. Tonight, I got banned to my room for a couple of hours while they set up the other house for my birthday dinner. So, I watched a movie and got all prettied up with the new hair things my mom sent me and the eyeliner and mascara thought I bought here in Peru. Then, right before the party I got to talk to my little brother and my mom and my grandparents!! I got a little teary when talking to them, but it was good, and I hadn’t talked to my grandparents since I left last August, so that was very exciting. Then, Rachel came and got me and blindfolded me for the walk to the other house. While were walking I could hear the noisemakers blowing in the other house and then Daniel came up behind me as a was walking blindfolded and blew one of the horns in my ear. Scared me to death! I had no idea he was there! Lol. Anyway, I got to the party and everyone started singing “Happy Birthday”, and then after that Daniel, Alfonso and Elias had three more birthday songs in Spanish to sing to me. It was so funny, because they thought that the noisemakers were the greatest things, and continued blowing them for a good twenty minutes. Lol. The girls had gone full out on the meal, and made tortillas with all of the toppings, but while we were eating the boys kept singing “Quieremos comer la torta, quieremos comer la torta” to the tune of “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow”. Which means “We want to eat the cake”. Hehe. Fortunately, I made it through the night without getting a egg smashed on my head.  Guess they forgot about that little tradition for one night. 

Moving Day!

So, we have officially moved to Km 8 for the rest of this mission year. We brought all of our stuff on Tuesday and immediately started a clinic after we unloaded everything. Then, after a very busy clinic, we started to get settled in our rooms. And of course, we had to kill at least one more of the same spiders that we killed during construction that just happened to be the size of my hand. So, the spider killings in total add up to 5, all the size of my hand, not counting all of the little ones. Lol. They seem to have moved out of our house for the most part because we’ve disturbed their home. Clinic had gone well so far this week. I’ve done triage, pharmacy, and dental extractions so far this week. Rachel and Stephanie have even been doing consultations to help the new doctora out. We met her on Monday, her name is Cecilia and she is very nice. She’s about the same age as Dr. Matthews. Rachel, Steph, and I are going to be living here with her for the rest of the year. I actually kind of wish we didn’t have to move here because the rest of our team lives at km 38. We’ve grown so close together, it’s kind of hard to leave. Although, we will be able to go back every Sunday to do our laundry and take a day off. We’re not quite sure what we are going to be doing next week, but I think they would like to start a regular clinic here at kilometer 8. Something interesting happened yesterday, a lady came in for a tooth extraction yesterday, but she had some sort of panic disorder. We knew she was nervous, but we didn’t know it was that bad. Caleb had anesthetized her and was in the process of extracting her tooth when she started to shake uncontrollably, like she was shivering really bad. Caleb didn’t realize it at first, but when I looked over at her, I knew something wasn’t right, I thought she was having a panic attack. We called Dr. Cecilia and it turns out that the lady was having an attack. The doctor got her to focus again and to calm down. She pinched her and applied pressure with a pen to her figure to get the lady to snap out it. After she calmed down, Caleb was able to extract the tooth just fine. Today was kind of slow as far as patients go, but I still pulled quite a few teeth. I saw several patients who had very few teeth, one lady was 48 years old and only had six teeth in her whole mouth and no molars! Towards the end of the day we had no patients, so I was just chilling in the pharmacy, then Hanna came and asked me if I could do a cleaning, so I said , Yea, sure. It was an 11 year old girl with about 3 younger siblings. I started cleaning her teeth and all of the kids started asking her if it hurt, she of course said no, because it was just a cleaning. Next thing I know, I had at least six kids hanging over my shoulders watching my every swipe of the scaler on her teeth. After they figured out that it didn’t hurt, I was soon cleaning the teeth of every single one of them. Lol. They were very cute. After clinic we had to go to someone’s home because a lady had a high fever and couldn’t walk. I was curious to see what the average Peruvians’ home looked like, and I wanted to know what was wrong with this lady. Their home was a one room, with 3 children and the parents, it was very cramped. And they had their kitchen and their laundry hung up in the same room. It made me think of the little one room houses that you read about when Americans had a big push towards the west, like Little House on the Prairie. Something very exciting happened today! I got my packages for my birthday! I’m so excited, but I’m trying to wait very patiently to open them. Also, I heard Christmas music for the first time today. It made me miss home a lot and at the same time seemed out of place here because it is So Hot! And at home, it’s pretty cold by the time Christmas season rolls around. I can’t wait for Christmas!

New Home Construction!

This week has been a lot of fun! We started building on to our new home at km 8. I think we’ll be moving there next week after the clinics. We’re going to start a clinic on Sunday that will go through until Friday. Once we move to km 8, Rachel and Stephanie will be assisting a lady doctor run a daily clinic and I am going to be working at the local school teaching music and English. On Monday we went to Km 8 and cleaned out the rooms because the property there hasn’t been used since last year, so it was a little dusty to say the least. The chicos have been working hard all week to repair the bathroom, construct a shower, and build three consultorio rooms for the doctor lady. On Tuesday, poor Rachel was sick from a bad mango, so just Steph and I went to help the boys. They were building the frames for the rooms and they gave Steph and I the job of cutting the wood planks for the walls. Using a hand saw we cut over 90 pieces of wood! My arms were a little sore at the end of the day, but it felt so good to just work hard and accomplish something! For lunch that day we tried something new, it was called “Lomo”, which consists of tomatoes, onions, carne de res, and potatoes and served with rice. It was amazing! The soup we had to go along with the meal was interesting, we found out later after we were almost done eating it that the meat in the soup was horse meat. Haha. The things you eat in Peru… I tasted it, and I didn’t like it, so I didn’t eat the rest of it. I think the reason the horse meat tasted funky is because it has a lot more fat on it then other meats. Lol. By the end of the day we had completed the front walls for two of the rooms and a door, and the boys had finished clearing the tall grass and such from the property. Yesterday, Wednesday, Rachel was feeling better so we all three went to the km 8 property. The day started out slow, but we helped Lucho finish the shower and Rachel helped Daniel finish the 3rd front wall. After lunch, we had a lot more work because they bought more wood and nails, so we constructed four more doors and the two walls that go in between the three rooms. It was fun because the boys actually let us nail the boards into the frame for the wall and for the doors. The wood here is so much harder than wood at home! I don’t know what kind of tree it comes from, but even the locals sometimes have a hard time with it. Let’s just say it always took me a while to get a nail to go in straight. Today, we’re not going out there because the medicines in the pharmacy need to be inventoried for the clinic Sunday. Right now, though, we don’t have money for the meds, but it will all work out. Speaking of money, when I came to Peru at the end of August, I was short just over $1,000 for my fundraising goal. I found out this week that it has all been paid in full! Praise God that it’s all paid! My parents were going to have to come up with the difference and now I’m a couple hundred dollars over what I needed to raise.  Thank you so much! Well, until next time! I think I’m going to make Locro for supper tonight and do some cleaning. Chau!

Busy as ever...

So, we´ve changed our dental filling lessons to Campo Verde because that ís a little closer and not quite as expensive travelwise. This next week Rachel, Steph, and I are possibly moving to a new location, Km 8. There will be a Peruvian lady doctor there and we will be helping her run a daily clinic. Km 8 is a piece of property that belongs to AMOR Projects. We´ve been told that here in Peru, once a doctor finishes his/her medical schooling, then they do a year of service, which is what this doctor lady will be doing this next year. As of right now, the km 8 property doesn´t have a bathroom, shower, or a stove, and we will be hauling our water everyday because it doesn´t have running water either. lol. This should be a new adventure! :) Hopefully in the next two weeks the manual labor team will make it out there to build us a bathroom and add some more rooms to make it better for a clinic.
I´ve been really craving cheez-its this week! The majority of the food here in Peru is sweet or not spicy. I miss spicy food! Sometimes we have some, but usually on weekends when the locals aren´t here because they don´t like spicy food. Especially Elias. Elias is the youngest here, being seventeen, but he´s probably the most fun sometimes. Poor guy basically has five or six older sisters to tease him now that the SM´s have been here. lol. Well, that´s all I have for now! Please continue to pray for our team! We need God´s strength and protection daily!

Fillings!

For the next month and a half, myself and the rest of the dental team will be training with a dentist from Pucallpa! We are going to be learning how to do fillings and getting a few more pointers on dentistry in general. We went today to meet with him, and I think we understood most of what was going on, but I’m pretty sure some things were lost in translation. Lol. It’ll work out. I think we are going to be working in schools in Pucallpa, checking kids’ teeth to see if they need fillings and/or extractions, and then the dentist will teach us how to do fillings by showing us on the kids that need fillings. It should be a very interesting month and a half. We will be going to Pucallpa five days a week for 2-3 hours in the morning.
It’s definitely gotten a lot colder down here since the rainy season started. Being cold at night is a new sensation that I haven’t felt for a while, it’s kind of nice.  Jenessa and Hanna went to Lima today to get Hanna’s passport, yay! They’re traveling with an SM from Southern who is working in Lima and just came down over the holiday to visit us. Hopefully everything goes smoothly for Hanna! Please continue to keep us in your prayers!

First Teaching Impressions...

I taught my first English classes this week!!! It was a lot more fun than I expected it to be. We began adult English classes last week on Wednesday, but when we got there, about 20 kids had shown up for classes too. So, on the following Monday we split up the class and put 14 years and older in Jenessa’s adult class and then in my class ages 13 and younger. On the first day of class I was very worried about boring the kids, to be honest. The beginning of the first class was a little slow, but after I taught them a few songs and a few games the class started to go very well! In the first class I taught the students colors, basic greetings, the abc’s, and some parts of the body in english. Their favorite song was the body song, “Head and shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes. Head and shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes…” The first class had about 20 kids in it, but when I returned on Wednesday I had 36 kids. When I arrived on Wednesday all my kids ran to hug me and ask what games we were playing today and if we could do the body song again, and they really wanted class to be longer. We spent a lot of Wednesday reviewing what we talked about on Monday because there were so many new students in the class. I made the mistake of having an activity outside in the middle of class and it was really hard after I took the kids back in the classroom to reinstitute some order to the classroom. So, lesson learned, games and overly exciting activities and songs will be done towards the end of class. I really, really hate lesson planning, but the actual teaching part is a lot more fun than I gave it credit for. Afterwards I was exhausted; kids take up a lot of energy! I think, in part, what makes teaching these kids so fun is that they want to be there and they want to know how to speak English. The doctor’s wife, just a few minutes ago, was explaining to me that to pay for English class is very expensive here, so when free English classes are offered people jump at the opportunity to learn something new. I love these kids already and I’ve only had two English classes with them! This is going to be so awesome! I pray that God helps my Spanish so that I can teach them better!

Pictures

Sorry, pictures won´t be up for a while because I´m having issue transfering them from my camera to my jump drive. Hopefully I´ll get some more up soon!

Christmas in October

Well, this week has been pretty slow, but we’ve kept busy cooking meals and keeping the houses clean. We got a new skillet this week! Rachel’s parents sent a brand-new grande sized non-stick skillet. It was the most amazing thing ever! We just stood there stirring the potatoes around and watching in amazement because we didn’t have to use all of our strength to scrape the potatoes off the bottom of the skillet. Non-stick skillets are one of my favorite things right now. I also got two packages from home this week! It was pretty much like Christmas. I think the muffin mixes and the cute little pink box my mom sent me were my favorite things.  It’s so much fun to get boxes! I also got a few letters, and I love those so much! It makes you feel more connected with people back home. The rainy season as now begun here in our part of Peru. That’s a lot of fun. Lol. The first big storm gave our kitchen a good drench because the rain came in through the windows, so the second time wet nailed an old plastic table cloth to the windows to prevent water from coming in. The manual labor team has been working hard this week to put up a house for the cows because we will have some baby cows here soon that will need a place to stay away from the dogs.There also building a little house for hammocks, that will be a fun place to hangout for sure!  Have a good week and God bless you!

October 15, 2010

This week, hmmm, a word to describe it. Okay, maybe three words, recovery, change, and slow.  Everyone seems to become recovering pretty well from the events that happened last Friday.  For some it’s still a little hard to sleep at night and sometimes you feel like someone is watching you, but we are able to talk about it as a team and help each other out.  Because of the robbery on Friday we are making a lot of rule changes here at the base.  As of right now, I don’t really have a defined job because the mobile team that I was a part of is being reevaluated for safety.  There are three girls on the mobile team and so we need to figure out what would be the safest way to do our jobs, so in about a week we’ll find that out.  A few other changes such as curfew have been adjusted as well and more lights are going to be installed at the base.  So, this week to keep myself busy I’ve been helping to do a lot of cooking and cleaning.  The first two days this week we had to reorganize our dental boxes and re-sterilize all of our instruments, but the rest of the days we’ve cleaned the houses really well and prepared for our visitors that we are going to have next week!  It’s also really exciting that they’re coming because they are bringing boxes of stuff to replace the stuff that the girls had stolen last week!

In my cooking adventures this week, I learned how to make Locro. It is a fairly popular Peruvian dish that is chockfull of vegetables. It’s made from sapallo, which is a yellow pumpkin/squash, and then after it’s broken down into a puree with sautéed garlic and onions you add potatoes, carrots, peas, and celery.  After those are cooked you add a little bit of milk and about a cup and a half of crumbled cheese and then pour it over rice! It’s soo amazing! It’s a very good dish. 

Last night was a lot of fun because we had a nail painting party! I scrubbed my feet in a bucket with a spa scrub that mom had bought for me and then Miss Rachel so kindly painted my toes! It was so fun and a very pampered feeling. Lol. I think four of us got our toe nails painted and our eyebrows done last night. Lol. It was so much fun, but of course as soon as we walked outside again our feet were dusty-dirty. Not much else happenin´right now! Have a happy Sabbath everyone!

2 weeks worth of blog...Sorry everyone!

September 29, 2010
Wow! What a day! We started our first major clinic campaign this week on Monday. The way that they work is that: for one week the whole team here at km 38 goes to a place and runs a medical clinic for one week, than for seven weeks after that Stephanie, Rachel, and me will live in that area. Stephanie and Rachel will be teaching public health to the community and I will be teaching English, music, and art in one or two of the public schools. During that time the bible workers will be holding evangelistic series and us girls will be running a vacation bible school. Our clinic for the two weeks is in Pucallpa itself, so Rachel, Steph, and I won’t be roughing the living conditions quite yet. The clinic we’re doing right now, the dental team is on their own. The dentist left back to the States yesterday.So far we have been doing pretty well. Yesterday I pulled a canine, but I broke the crown and had to dig the root out of the gum. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be. Some situations get a little tough, but by the grace of God we manage to get every tooth out that needs to come out. It’s amazing that here in Peru, getting your teeth pulled out is just a part of life. By the time your 12, it’s pretty normal to already have one or two of your permanent already pulled. We pull, so far, about 15 to 25 patients’ teeth in a day. Some of them want up to five teeth pulled at once!  Beside pulling teeth, today I learned how to give someone a shot in the butt and how to scrape an infected burn wound so that it can heal. Today, we had to close the clinic early because there was a fire at the house.

October 3Well, 4 days later it has finally rained.Wednesday started the first night of four night of fires.  We’re so tired!Friday night we had two fires and Saturday night as well.  We get one all put out, and an hour or two later we see or hear of another one. Last night’s was the worst.It was the closest fire to the houses and it started at two in the afternoon and finally was put out at ten that night.  Safe to say most of the property here at Km 38 is black.  We were at the church near the clinic in Pucallpa when it started yesterday, fortunately there were people here to fight the fire, but they definitely needed the ten of us who were in Pucallpa. Unfortunately we didn’t know about it until we got back at around 6, but even with the extra hands it still took us four hours to put it out. They told us later that it only took a few minutes for the fire to wrap around the backside of the houses and into the cow pasture.  At one point the fire actually circled around the people fighting it and they had to fight their way out of it.  We have a huge tank attached to a tractor that we fill up when a fire starts and we grab all the buckets we can get our hands on to carry water to the fire.  We also stomp out a lot and use shovels to put some of the fire out.  We’re exhausted after four days of this. A lot of the time we didn’t get to bed until one or two in the morning.  We’re so glad that God sent the rain.Clinic wrapped up nicely.The people who helped us were so awesome! The doctors saw anywhere from 120 to 175 patients in day and the dental team saw around 20 to 65 patients in a day.  It was so busy, and we couldn’t have done it without our helpers.  I am definitely becoming more confident in pulling teeth, but at the same time I’m still a little afraid of hurting someone. The people here think that I’m a doctor! I keep thinking that I have ten more years of schooling before that happens. Some of the teeth we pull down here are teeth that in the states the person would have been sent to an oral surgeon to have taken out.  Poor Chris this week, at least two or three days all the extractions he had were difficult ones.  One day it took him a half an hour to forty minutes for each of his patients.  The kids that we see are so cute, and so brave!  Most of them sit there very quietly and don’t even cry as we pull their teeth. Granted, we give them anesthetic, but extractions are still pretty scary things for a nine-year-old. I was cleaning a lady’s teeth and she had the cutest little one-year-old.She was lying on her stomach on her mom’s chest and as I was cleaning she was peering into her mom’s mouth, very curious as to what I was doing. Also, on Tuesday a girl of about 4 years old asked me to come outside and take a picture with her, but when I got out there her mom had her recite a speech/poem to me and then she sang two songs to Hanna and me. After that I had a baby given to me to take a picture with and one or two other kids. Lol. Guess, it’s not every day that you have so many gringas in one place. Hehe. We spent Sabbath with the church members who had helped us all week and they fed us lunch.  I think that down here in Peru I have had the best chicken I have ever tasted in my life! I don’t know what they do to it, but every time I’ve had it, it’s been amazing! I eat so well down here, and I’m learning how to become quite the cook with certain foods.  Still haven’t figured out how to make muffins from scratch, maybe I’ll just wait until I can get a mix. So far we’ve made pizza, biscuits and gravy, cinnamon rolls, tostadas, and a bunch of other yummy stuff. Tonight, I’ll be packing my bags because tomorrow we head up the river! That should be quite the adventure!  I’ll keep you posted! God bless!

October 10, 2010
Well, we just ended a very exciting week. We went up river this last week to do some clinics in various town along the river.  The clinics all went fairly well, and we helped a lot of people. The interesting parts of the week, however, did not occur during clinic.  Tuesday we began our adventure up river starting from the Peru Projects launch in Pucallpa on two small boats. In reality, they were more like canoes just twice as wide. At first it was okay, but then we started going up a smaller river with shallower water. I think we got stuck on at least four different logs and it felt like we were going to capsize way to many times for my liking! I don’t think I’m much of a boat person.  It was just a little too stressful trying to keep the boat balanced so that it wouldn’t flip.The first night we spent on the river was very scary for me. First of all, I don’t have a tent, so that meant that I had to sleep outside, which isn’t so bad except Peru has some unusually large bugs. Fortunately, I brought a mosquito net so I set that up between two tents and laid my sleeping bag on the sand. The mosquito didn’t stop my little visitor that night, though!We had just gone to bed and I was laying there looking at an incredibly clear sky with millions of beautiful stars when I heard this hissing sound. I think my heart stopped, literally. Then, I felt something moving under my sleeping bag and thought, “Seriously! A snake?” I was a little scared, and I took my fist and smashed whatever it was through my sleeping bag. Then I thought, “okay, good, I got it.” Not five minutes later, I here that hissing sound again! So, I quickly asked the guy sleeping a foot away if I could borrow his flashlight. I turned it on and starting peering around my little mosquito net tent and right next to where I was laying was this humongous beetle! It was about two inches long and it made hissing sounds! I grabbed my shoe and tried to smash it, but its exoskeleton was so hard that it didn’t work so I rolled it onto my other shoes and it took me three tries before I killed it in between the two shoes. I had a very hard time getting back to sleep after that. I did a thorough search of my area for more big bugs, but didn’t find any. I didn’t fall asleep for at least another hour. I told God that I couldn’t take any more bugs for that night.  At least big scary ones. The next morning made up for it a little bit because I woke up to the most beautiful sunrise I have ever seen in my life! As you looked over the river, there was jungle on either bank with fog rising up through it like a cloud. And then the clouds in the sky stretched long fingers spreading a brilliant pink color across the sky and then reflecting it on to the river.Little boats were heading out and coming back from a night of fishing. It was beautiful!The next nights we were in a different town and we were able to stay in a school, which made the creepy crawly situation much better to deal with. All in total we did four clinics in four different towns over a period of three days.
Friday by far was the most eventful day. We started to travel back to Pucallpa after breakfast that we cooked over a fire that morning and we were about 3 or 4 hours away when one of our boats got robbed! Apparently, when we were passing one little port on the river, there were two guys that saw our boats and started to scope them out.  About half an hour down the river our two boats were separated. My boat was a ways ahead of the other one and we had pulled over to a little island so that one of the girls on my boat could use the bathroom.While we were waiting we saw this very fast boat speed by after slowing down close to our boat.Immediately our driver knew what had happened and started heading towards our other boat. We found out that our boat had been robbed at gunpoint! They took everyones´ valuables off the boat and took three huge backpacks full of three of the girls things. One girls passport was stolen, all of their camaras and all of their money. They asked where the other boat was and if there were soldiers on it, and our doctor wouldn´t answer them, but they forced him to and he said that it was far away and had angels guarding it. They laughed at the angels part, but then the driver of that boat said that we were armed. We think that they found us in the second boat, but saw the five guys on the boat and assumed it was guarded. We are so grateful that God protected the lives of everyone on the boat even though things were taken. They are things that can be replaced. Right now everyone that was on the boat is working with the police here in Pucallpa and working on insurance and getting a new passport. Please pray that the process goes smoothly! Everyone is safe and processing everything that has happened. Thank you for your prayers!

First week of clinics!

Well, we had our first week of clinics! It was sooooo exhausting!  I literally fell asleep when my head hit the pillow!  I pulled my first teeth this week! At first it was really scary, because I was afraid of hurting people, but as the week went on I got more confident at it.  We had a clinic everyday this week and there were six surgeries!  The doctor is so amazing. The surgeries, however, are not sterile in any way shape or form. lol. But he does so many things and he sees up to 200 patients in one day!  This week has been so fun, and so exhausting at the same time.  I caught a cold this week so I've been under the weather a little bit.  We made cinnamon rolls for Sabbath breakfast! We are becoming quite the cooks!  I had a little girl ask me for a bible this week and fortunately I had brought a little spanish bible with me, so I gave it to her.  We're starting a week of prayer this week at  my church and I'm preaching on Thursday! Please pray for me! I'm not a sure that I can be a preacher!

A Day Without Electricity

Yesterday at about 3am the electricity from KM 38 to Pucallpa was out until about midnight last night.  We
don´t use electricity a lot so that wasn´t an issue, but we do need electricity so that we can pump water to drink and to cook with. For about half of the day yesterday we were without water.  We made the best of it. We actually had a lot of fun! When night came we lit candles and us girls sat around the table and told stories about friends or things we used to do as kids and we read books we each had brought. Rachel and I also made some super delicious oatmeal and peanut butter cookies! It worked because we have a gas stove and you don´t need water to make them. They were so good!  Also, since the spot lots were out at the base we were all outside and took these really cool pictures with our headlamps! Hanna set her camera so that the shutter would stay open for  
20 seconds and we drew letters and pictures with our lights. I´ll have to post a picture on this blog when I get a chance.

Almost 2 weeks in...

The teeth we pulled

So, I've been here for two weeks starting Monday.  So far we're having a lot of fun! The team here has bonded so well! We get along great! Right now there are 7 of us and still 3 more to come.  The first week here was spent orientating ourselves to the area and to the base.  It was a difficult week because I really missed my family and Jacob.  This week we started working. In the past 2 weeks I've been making lesson plans for my classes, but this week we started learning dental.  On Sunday the dentist gave an overview of the basics of sterilization and anesthesia.  Monday we practice our new anesthetic knowledge on each other!  My mouth was numb for a few hours and eating lunch was a very interesting and difficult task. haha. Thursday we were brought a pig's head to practice pulling teeth on. Oh my!  Pigs have very tough teeth to pull!  They tell us though that human teeth are not nearly so hard to pull.  One of the teeth we pulled had a 3 inch root and another had 5 roots! I hope we're ready for our first clinic on monday!  I'm most definately going to be reviewing every video and piece of information I have! I'm so scared of hurting someone! Fortunately the dentist will be there to assist with next weeks clinic.

For the most part it is pretty hot here but we did get some rain that cooled it down for a few days. I'm definately very happy to have made some very good friends here. Cockroaches fill our kitchen. It is absolutely disgusting! But you get used to it and just make a lot of noise when you cook so that they stay away.  Our stove was having issues this last week but it got repaired which was nice. We all take turns cooking for each other, there's about 17 in total to cook for.
The most interesting adventures we've had of yet, besides the kitchen and giving each other anesthesia, usually involve the bathroom or the shower.  We have a huge frog that usually dwells in either place, he looks like he weighs four or five pounds. And also in the bathroom lives a bat. Each time we use the bathroom we have to stop around to make sure the bat is not going to fly up at us. lol.  This morning, early, I was headed to the bathroom and had a double whammy!  To start off, I didn't grab my glasses in my half-asleep state so I was pretty much blind. When I got to the bathroom, I could tell there was something on the floor, but had no clue what it was. I got closer and it was that frog!  So, I put a bucket on top of him and tried to move him but he wouldn't budge so I put the sack of sawdust on top of the bucket so that he wouldn't jump on me as I was going about my business.  As I was preparing to escape from the monster frog, a black object swooped in and flew into the hole below! Safe to say as soon as my blurry vision figured out what that was, I started screaming!  It was not an experience that you want at 4 or 5 in the morning, especially without your glasses!  I quickly to the bag and bucket off of the frog and slowly backed out of the bathroom hoping that the frog who was staring me down wouldn't jump. I ran back to the house.

Well, this details my adventures for the week. God has definately been working on my character and gives me strength and comfort daily! Pictures to come....Internet is to slow to upload them now.

God bless you and keep you safe!

En el Peru

I'm in Peru! The flight down here from KC all the way to Pucallpa was about 10 or 11 hours with a layover in Atlanta and Lima. I miss home so much! My brother sent me a bible verse today that really helped me out. Psalmos 112:7,8 It helped because when the doctor, dr. mathews, who is our supervisor, went over the duties and his expectations of us, they were extremely high. I doubted whether or not I could perform the necessary tasks to succeed here as a student missionary, I was scared. But this verse was perfect because it reminded me that my heart is secure in the Lord and there is no need to fear for anything. :) God is good.

While I'm here I will be working on a dental team pulling teeth and I will also be a community ambassador who teaches English, Music, and Art. Any ideas are more than welcome! Unfortunately, before I left the states and was unable to get all of the money needed. Southern's missionary office is amazing and is helping me out, but if you could help that would be great! I only need about $1000 more to provide a stipend for living expenses here. Email my mom at cchristensen@saint-lukes.org for more info.
This morning we got very excited because we found a muffin pan. Cant wait to get muffin mix in our next care package! God bless and be with you!

An Official Missionary!

Well, I'm officially accepted to the Touch of Love clinic in Peru!! Things are all working out! Now to only get enough money...

Nothing Solid

So, I am quickly learning that doors can open and close very quickly. Colombia does not look like an option anymore. Fortunately, I have heard of this place called Touch of Love in the jungles of Peru. It sounds promising, but has a very long application process. Still praying. I am also going to apply at orphanages in El Salvador and Honduras. It would be nice to know...

Little Update

Tuesday I found out about an orphanage in Colombia. It looks very interesting and a lot of fun. I was able to go onto their website to check it out. The kids are so cute! The area looks beautiful too. Yesterday in Student Missions orientation I heard a girl's story about her mission and how it didn't go exactly as planned. A little scary for me, especially since I am very much a planner. Still excited!!
God Bless!

Getting Ready

Right now everything is going smoothly with the paperwork that I am having to fill out and sign, etc. I'm not sure what the total cost for me going will be yet, but I do know the base price will be $3,000 dollars. That's a lot of money, but God wants me to go so I know he will provide.

"Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram [a] caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, "On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided." Genesis 22:13,14

The Beginning

Here I am in the Spring of 2010 trying to decide where to go. Yesterday I found two places that looked very interesting. One was a clinical assistant calling in Nicaragua. I would help at a clinic with patients doing health education and dispensing medication. The other place I looked at was an assistat dean calling in Denmark. Both look very interesting. Pray that I go where God knows I can do the most for Him. God Bless!